Love and Marriage
by Tekalali
Summary: Naruto was about to discover these words meant two different things, as he delves into the life of his new boss, and manages to change everything for Sasuke.
1. Assistant

Hi :)

So, this story's been on my dA for... 10 months. I'm revamping it now so I can put it on here ^^ it's pretty popular on there so I hope everyone likes it on here.

Enjoy.

_Genre: Shounen-AI/yaoi_

_Pairings: Sasunaru, Sasusaku, Gaanaru_

_Rating: T_

**Disclaimer: not mine. Characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi, the story idea and plot is mine. **

* * *

Sasuke looked up at the clear blue sky as he opened the front door of his house, today was… nice, not like the stoic raven cared much for the weather, or any of the twittering, happy wildlife… especially the birds, he detested them. "I'm leaving," he called into his home and heard hurried foot steps approach him, and he wondered himself why he didn't move.

"Have a good day at work Sasuke!" a bubble gum pink haired girl said with a sweet smile as she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Bye Sakura," he replied, his face still passive as he left the house, taking out his keys to his black BMW as he went, and slipping his ring finger though the hole, the metal key ring clinking off of the silver ring as he did.

He opened his car door and sat inside, closing the door and leaning his head back with a sigh before putting the keys in the ignition, the car roaring to life in the early morning as he drove down the long roads towards the Uchiha Company building.

******

**Meanwhile**

The blond yawned widely, his eyes watering with the action, and he went to rub them sleepily as the train wobbled and he lost balance in his sleepy daze and stumbled, clinging to the loose plastic hoop hanging from the rail above his head with the rest of the business men and women who joined him in the carriage, seeming much more expert at this kind of travel than he was, not to mention they looked considerably more awake. His tired and bored eyes gazed up at the cloudless morning sky, the shocking blue only reflected by his own eyes, rivalling the natural beauty of the sky, and he smiled, thankful that the weather was on his side today.

His nerves hadn't kicked in yet and he was grateful for that but he wasn't sure how long it would last, he could only ignore the impending worry so much before he finally started twitching with nerves, but today it seemed to be holding off, and he was revelling in the thought that by some magical force he would never be nervous for something like this again… that is… until he approached the front of the large building- the thing towering so high he almost cricked his neck- and the nervous butterflies finally kicked in as he stared at the rotating door.

The blond sighed. '_G__reat_,' honestly he would have rather have been nervous earlier, at least at home he wouldn't have looked like an idiot by wanting to throw up in the middle of introductions. The blond stood there still staring at the door with a forlorn expression before he was abruptly barged into on his right side and stumbled, "s-sorry," he said to a raven haired man who had walked past him, the man barely acknowledging his existence as he replied with a short 'hn' and continued through the doors.

The blond stared at the others back as he walked and scowled '_ungrateful bastard__,'_ he though before taking a deep, determined breath, straightening up, and walking through the rotating door towards the receptionist, sitting behind a completely round desk. The girl had brown haire tied into two buns high on her head, and she looked up at the blond with large brown eyes, and in his opinion, she seemed quite pretty. "Good morning, can I help you?" she asked with a smile, his telephone headpiece bobbing next to her mouth as she chewed on some gum.

"Yes, I'm starting work here from today, I was wondering if you could tell me which floor I could find Itachi Uchiha on" he inquired, smiling warmly, her attitude seemed to calm his nerves slightly.

"Of course, just go up to the 21st floor and the receptionist will take you from there, and I know the elevator looks a little daunting, but I wouldn't recommend the stairs, I don't think anyone's dared to try that, and his meeting's probably going to start soon." She said with a small giggle.

"Thank you," he grinned before walking towards the crowded elevator and squeezing himself in before pressing the button labelled '21' which lit up a long with the array of other numbers before the doors slid shut.

"W-welcome to Uchiha advertising, c-can I help you?" the blond smiled at the stuttering young woman, her long, bluish hair hanging over her slender shoulders as she looked at him bashfully.

"I'm here to see Itachi, I'm the new assistant," he said and the girl nodded.

"C-come with me please," she said quietly, leading the blond towards a large conference room, enclosed in mostly glass he noticed, though each pane had metal blinds covering them, all of them open for the time being.

"Excuse me, I-Itachi sir, the new assistant is here," the young woman said and the blond looked over at the male she was addressing; he had long raven hair and coal coloured eyes, two marks lay under his eyes, making it looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Ah yes, thank you Hinata," Itachi smiled at her and the girl, Hinata nodded before leaving. "Ok everyone I'd like to introduce out newest member of the team and Sasuke's new assistant," he said, beckoning the blond towards him as the rest of the room stared at him. "This is Naruto Uzumaki," Itachi announced to the rest of the table who greeted the blond with curt nods and waves, Naruto returning the gestures. "Sasuke usually arrives late to meetings so I'll introduce you when he gets here," Itachi said to the blond who nodded to the raven haired man before the door swung open and another, younger looking raven walked into the room and towards one of the two vacant seats remaining in the room. "Ah! Sasuke, speak of the devil!" Itachi greeted and the blonde's eyes immediately widened '_its that bastard from this morning, I have to work for_ him!?'

"Brother, how is it that you can arrive to work on time but not come to a meeting when asked?" '_B__rother__!__?__'_ Naruto thought as he watched the younger raven man take his seat, could this get any worse?

"I despise these pointless meetings Itachi you know that. I think sometimes you just call them to piss me off." The low voice rang through Naruto's ears, making the hairs stand on the back of his neck as Itachi smirked at his younger brother before remembering the blond standing idly beside him, still somewhat gawking in Sasuke's direction.

"By the way Sasuke this is Naruto, he'll be your new assistant," Itachi informed the other raven, and it registered to Naruto that this must have been the first time Sasuke had been told about this. Not like he seemed surprised by the news.

"I don't need him." Was the blunt reply from Sasuke, Itachi had always been like this, forcing new fetcher dogs onto him that he despised. He didn't need someone asking him if he needed anything every second of the day. Id he needed some kind of servant he would have stayed with his parents.

"Well tough, he's working for us and you'll just have to live with it." Itachi said triumphantly before turning to the blond so Sasuke couldn't retaliate. "Naruto, you can take your seat now."

Naruto snapped his head towards the man and nodded before taking his seat beside his new boss without saying a word. "Let us begin the meeting then!" Itachi announced with an enthusiastic clap of his hands, and all eyes turned towards him.

Naruto could say one thing. At least his nerves were gone.

*****

"Excuse me Naruto," the blond turned around to see a tall, red haired man approach him as the meeting ended and he smiled at the man before the redhead stopped in front of him. "My name's Gaara," the redhead introduced himself, extending his hand out to Naruto who shook it.

"Nice to meet you Gaara," the blond smiled, having no need to introduce himself since Itachi had done that for him.

"Today's your first day so I just thought I'd offer you help if you need me, first days can be tough and it's best if you settle in quickly," the redhead stated, giving a small, shy smile and Naruto's grinned happily.

"Thanks I'll be sure to remember that," he answered, making the other mans cheeks tinge pink slightly.

"Ok well good luck today, you'll probably need it." Gaara glancing back at the raven haired man and glared slightly before walking away a few paces but stopping again and turning back to Naruto, "oh and if today's a little stressful for you, a few of my colleagues and I are going out for a drink after work if you'd care to join us."

"Really?" the blond asked enthusiastically, "sounds great! I'll see you later Gaara," the blond said and the redhead nodded before turning and walking away, Naruto walking into the room where his boss was still sitting at his chair, his face passive though Naruto thought he seemed somewhat unhappy.

"So you actually mustered up the courage to walk into the building," Sasuke said to the approaching blond and smirked. "You should have just turned and left, I have no need for you," he said monotonously and Naruto glared, ready to answer back when he was interrupted.

"Now now, no need to be like that little brother," Itachi's voice came from the other side of the room, and Sasuke scoffed at him. "Naruto if you have any problems with Sasuke just let me know, I have ways of dealing with my little brother," the older raven smirked evilly and Naruto nodded, sure the older man would keep his word. "Well I'm sure we all have work to be getting on with," Itachi said signalling for the other two to leave the room and Naruto waited as Sasuke got up and left the room, the blond walking reluctantly beside his new boss. The thought made him cringe.

The two finally arrived at the large office at the very end of a long line of box cubicles, and Naruto took his seat at his desk near two large, wooden doors and looked at the notes which had been left for him stuck to different parts of the desk and computer. He took out a large planner and started jotting down all of the important information on the notes and turned to Sasuke as the other man opened the door to his office. "Sasuke, you have a meeting with the photographers at three, do you need me to notify you closer to the time?" he asked, trying to be somewhat professional, though the response he received only being a small 'hn' before the doors closed and left the blond alone in the large room to pout. "I'll take that as a yes then," Naruto said quietly to himself and sighed, starting his paper work. It would be a long day.

********

Sasuke sat idly at his desk looking at nothing and particular, still contemplating the point of this new assistant of his '_I don__'__t need a babysitter__'_ he thought to himself bitterly, cursing his brother for the surprise attack before the intercom beeped and he heard Naruto's voice, "Sasuke your brother's on line one," the raven heard Naruto sigh as he released the button and smirked, apparently the blond had thought the same thing he was thinking; why the hell would Itachi ring down 30 minutes after a meeting? Of course Sasuke knew why. Itachi always did this. He picked up the phone and placed it against his ear.

"So brother, how's it going?" Sasuke heard Itachi's happy voice and sighed much like Naruto had.

"Itachi, he's been here an hour, its going as well as he told you."

"How did you know I'd been talking to him?" Itachi accused the younger raven who rolled his eyes.

"You do every time; do you really think this is going to end any differently either?" Sasuke asked.

"You won't be able to get rid of this one Sasuke I guarantee it," Sasuke could hear the smirk in his brothers' voice and he grimaced.

"Well we'll see about that," the young Uchiha bit and Itachi scoffed.

"Yes, we shall see brother," the older raven said before the line went dead and Sasuke placed the phone back on his desk with an exasperated sigh, cursing his brother once again.

The rest of the day was silent for the two men, Naruto only buzzed the intercom to let Sasuke know he was going for lunch and when the appointment was close, happy to leave the other alone instead of suffering Sasuke's obvious distaste for the assistant.

Finally Naruto finished work and walked towards the elevator, stretching along the way before he saw Gaara waiting beside the empty reception desk. Naruto smiled at the redhead man, picking p his pace slightly, the prospect of getting some alcohol in his system more than enough to pick up his mood, "hey Gaara, ready to go?" he asked and the man nodded, getting into the elevator with the blond.

"So how was your first day?" Gaara asked as they descended the emptying buildings, only a few noticeable lights shining on the various floors.

"Uneventful," Naruto replied with a tired laugh.

"Well you should get used to that, Sasuke's not really the sociable type, inside or outside of work," Gaara said as the elevator doors slid open at the ground floor and they made their way towards the redhead's car.

"So what's with this guy anyway?" Naruto asked Gaara as he sipped his drink, happy to be in the calm atmosphere of the bar.

"Who? Sasuke?" Naruto looked up at the newcomer and nodded, the man had short brown hair tied into a high ponytail and looked utterly bored with the whole scenario, though somewhat interested in the conversation.

"Yeah Shika, care to share?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru sat down with the two and shrugged.

"No one knows why he's like that, but in the past two years that I've worked there he's gotten rid of at least seven assistants," Shikamaru stated and Naruto's eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah and you're his next victim!" another man said walking over and sitting with the group. "Seriously Naruto he's never kept an assistant for more than a month for one reason or another, so if you want to keep your job you'll have to make sure he doesn't get you fired."

"Gee thanks for the confidence boost Kiba!" Naruto frowned looking down at the table.

"I don't understand how his wife stands him," Kiba said casually and Naruto's head shot up to look at him.

"He's _married_!?" Naruto asked, shock completely evident in his voice, married was the last thing he thought this guy was.

"Yes, to the most gorgeous girl in this city," a voice said and sighed dreamily.

"Lee, are you honestly still in love with that woman?" Kiba questioned.

Lee sighed again then frowned, "why did that damn Uchiha have to get her and not me?" the man said sadly.

Naruto thought over the information he'd just been told _'__Sasuke__'__s married? He looks incapable of falling in love how can he be married__!__?_'

"Hey Naruto, do you need a ride home?" Gaara asked the blond who looked up and smiled.

"Thanks Gaara that would be great," the two men stood and said their goodbyes, the others agreeing they'd see them tomorrow, before leaving the bar and heading for the redhead's car.

"So Kiba's words haven't scared you off have they?" Gaara asked as the two boys drove towards the blonde's apartment. "About the assistant thing."

"Nope, just means I've got to crack that Uchiha's shell and get him to see I'm not there to baby-sit him like he seems to think," Naruto said with a determined expression and Gaara smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Well that's good" the redhead said, "I'm glad."

Naruto looked away from the redhead and blushed a little, "yeah me too," he said before the car stopped.

"I'll walk you to your door," Gaara said unbuckling his seat belt.

"You don't have to Gaara really," Naruto protested to the redhead not wanting to be any trouble, but Gaara was already opening his car door.

"Its fine Naruto, now come on," Gaara smiled as he got out of the car and waited for the blond before they walked up to Naruto's apartment.

"Thanks for inviting me tonight I had fun," Naruto smiled, turning to the redhead after opening his door.

"I'm glad" Gaara said as a short silence set over the two. "So I'll see you at work tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah sure," the blond smiled before he felt Gaara's lips on his cheek and his eyes widened, a blush spreading quickly over his face.

"Good night Naruto," the redhead said before he walked away from the blond and down the corridor. Naruto stood there after Gaara left, still a little shocked, before he finally walked into his apartment, collapsing on his bed for a well deserved nights sleep, today had been eventful… and exhausting.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed chapter one. Though I detest the couples I've introduced here there will be sasunaru, promise!**

**Review please and I'll revamp quicker.**

**Love Kit~  
**


	2. Don't Fight

I finished up chapter 2 and here it is, by the way there's 7 chapters to this story :)

Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: As if.**

* * *

Sasuke placed his car keys in the bowl beside the door when he entered the house and kicked off his shoes as his wife walked towards him with a smile, though he didn't look at her as he took out his phone and hung up his jacket. "Welcome home Sasuke," Sakura greeted her husband and kissed his cheek much like this morning, and like every other day. It was by Sasuke's request that she did so; he refused to let her kiss his lips.

"Thanks." He replied blankly as he walked past her and towards the stairs, "I'll be in the study," he said as he walked without looking back at his pink haired wife, he knew she wouldn't question him about it, she hadn't since he first started confining himself to that room all those years ago.

"I'll call you when dinner's ready," Sakura said as she watched the back of the raven go with a frown before he spoke.

"No, I'm not hungry," the raven replied, ascending the final steps and walking to his left, down the crème coloured landing towards the study. The door clicked shut softly behind Sasuke as he leaned against the door and let out a long breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The last thing he wanted was to have to eat with Sakura and he was glad she hadn't protested, arguments were tedious events. Sasuke finally lifted himself away from the door and walked over to his desk, turning on his computer as he sat down and relaxed a little as he waited for it to start up, finally logging on and checking his e-mails. If there was one thing Sasuke hated, it was his e-mail inbox, yet he couldn't help himself check it every night. It was something to do. E-mails or Sakura? He knew which one he'd pick every time. Hell, Sasuke would read Itachi's e-mails if it meant he didn't have to sit with his wife, e-mails which his inbox was currently full of, and the raven frowned at the sheer number of them before moving them to the trash. Surely Itachi had something better to do with his time, he did own a business! Sasuke skimmed over the rest of his inbox, disregarding trash and leaving others to read later. His eyes finally stopped, settling on the name 'Naruto Uzumaki':

**Sasuke,  
Your brother told me to tell you that there is another meeting in the morning, so be in on time.  
Naruto.**

Sasuke scoffed at the letter, Itachi would tell Naruto to say that, and all it was doing was embarrassing the blond. How sad.

**Dobe,  
My brother holds meetings every day, didn't the last fired assistant leave you that note? You're not my baby-sitter.  
Sasuke.**

The raven pressed the send button with a small smirk and read through the other e-mails before starting on his work. If there was one thing he was grateful to his brother for it was giving him work at home, it gave him an excuse to be alone, and would keep him occupied until late in the night.

Sasuke glanced at the clock beside his computer screen, the red lights signalling it was exactly 2a.m and the raven was just about to close everything down when he noticed he had new mail, he clicked curiously since not even his brother was up this late -much to Sasuke's relief since he'd spent most of the night moving new e-mails from Itachi into the trash- Sasuke smirked at the name and read the message.

**Teme,  
I was just trying to be helpful like any normal assistant, I've been here for a day! If that had slipped your mind, how was I supposed to know Itachi held meetings everyday? I'm not a mind reader. Ha! I don't get paid enough to baby-sit you.  
Naruto.**

Sasuke scoffed and smirked at the reply from Naruto. The blond had balls to talk to Sasuke like that, that's for sure. Sasuke's reply was short and once he had sent it he turned off the computer, stretching in his chair before he headed for his room.

Naruto watched the computer screen as he stretched, his plan of a well deserved nights sleep wasn't going as planned, his first day had been far too hectic, everything kept buzzing around in his head from bumping into Sasuke –literally- to Gaara's goodnight kiss, and it was all annoyingly keeping him awake. Suddenly the screen flashed that he had mail and Naruto opened the new message.

**Dobe,  
Get some sleep or I'll kick your ass tomorrow for being a useless assistant.  
Your boss.**

Naruto pouted at the screen, "teme," he mumbled as he re read the message "useless assistant, more like a useless boss," he complained as he shuffled back to bed, hoping that he would finally get to sleep.

******

"Wow Naruto, rough night? Did Gaara take you to a strip club when you left without inviting us?" Kiba commented with a pout as he walked into the meeting room, and Naruto could barely life his head to glare at the brunet with the amount of strength he had in his body, and he gave up with a huff, resting his head once again on his arms against the desk. Rough night indeed, he'd had less sleep than the blond could ever imagine and so was his sluggish behaviour. He hated losing sleep, and so did his body. "Hey, don't let Itachi see you like that or he'll kill you," Kiba warned the other man who lifted his head slowly, his disgruntled expression making the other man laugh before he took his seat at the other end of the table.

"Ok everyone the meeting is about to start!" Itachi called with a clap as he walked into the room, the blond wincing at the loud noise so early in the morning with so little sleep. Itachi glanced over everyone on the table, his eyes finally resting on the blond who was trying to sit up straight. "Naruto, did you let Sasuke know about today?" he asked the blond.

"Oh yeah, but you know how much Sasuke listens to me," the blond said with a small smile, trying to act as natural as possible while he fought to keep his eyes open, and the older raven sighed.

"Sasuke will be Sasuke," he mumbled and turned towards the table as he took his seat, "I guess we'll give it ten minutes since he usually takes that long to-" but Itachi stopped mid sentence when his younger brother walked into the room and took his seat next to the blond without a word.

"Something wrong brother?" Sasuke asked, a tiny amused smirk present on his features as he looked at his gawking brother, who closed his eyes and shook his head, the younger raven was still there when he looked up again and he smirked.

"No, nothing," he said in a slightly sing song way and began to address the meeting again.

"So you have a meeting with your brother at one and a woman called…" Naruto furrowed his brow as he flicked through his papers for a small post-it note, "Sakura called, she said that she had to cancel tonight's plans."

The raven was silent as Naruto spoke and a little afterwards before addressing the blond. "Are you still here?" Sasuke asked with a smirk as the two men walked down the corridor towards Sasuke's office.

"I'm your assistant; I'm here whether you like it or not until Itachi fires me or I quit," Naruto said triumphantly. "So deal with it."

Sasuke mumbled incoherently, the blond barely making out what sounded like "stupid dobe assistant" before the raven walked into his office and closed the door behind him. Naruto sighed and shook his head with a small smile as he walked to sit behind his already cluttered desk, how could he already have such a relationship with his boss after two days of working here? Naruto wondered as he sat down and grimaced at his desk, more importantly, how had his desk become so cluttered after two days of working here? No matter what the answer, the blond knew the papers wouldn't just disappear if he answered right, so with a reluctant sigh he began typing.

********

"What happened today?" Kiba asked as he took a drink of his beer and rested it back on the table before continuing, "I mean Sasuke came to a meeting, on time!" the man exclaimed, shock evident in his voice and Naruto looked at him confused.

"I don't get it," the blond admitted, "doesn't he ever go to meetings on time?" He asked the group and they all shook their heads in unison.

"Never," Shikamaru stated as he leaned forward on his chair and rested his elbows on the table to support his head on his hands, "not once since he started work here," Naruto looked at Shikamaru wide eyed. That was absurd.

"That is weird," Naruto admitted, though he wasn't really interested in digging deeper into this new revelation. "Well guys I should get going," the blond said, standing from his chair and searching his pockets for his keys but coming up empty handed. "Shit, I must've left my keys at work!" Naruto sighed, "do you think the building will still be unlocked?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure, sure" Kiba answered, "Itachi doesn't leave until maybe three and he locks up himself." Naruto sighed with relief.

"Do you need a ride Naruto?" Gaara asked, quickly standing from his chair to follow the blond.

"Thanks Gaara but I'll be fine, stay here, I can get a taxi," Naruto said to the redhead who sat down slowly and reluctantly.

"If you're sure," Gaara shrugged trying not to impose on the blond in case he came on too strongly, so he didn't argue, and Naruto waved to the group before he left.

The building was silent when the blond entered, he looked over to the circular reception desk but the girl wasn't there, -and though all lights were still on, having no one around made Naruto feel a little uncomfortable- but he walked quietly to the elevator and pressed the button for the 21st floor which lit up singularly before the door closed and the elevator ascended. The doors opened, and Naruto looked around, half expecting to see the usual blue haired receptionist sitting at the front desk, but of course it was close to midnight and no one would be on this floor this late apart from Itachi it seemed, though Naruto wasn't going to find out.

The lighting was dim compared to when there were workers around, only small wall lights lit the way, and Naruto silently made his way towards the very end room. He wasn't sure why he was being so quiet, no one was around after all, but he took the utmost care as he clicked the door open and peered into his office, he looked over at his paper cluttered desk, still managing to grimace at it like it was evil, and saw his keys resting on the highest pile. He sighed with relief and walked over to pick up the keys but an unusually bright light for this place so late at night caught his eye and he turned to see light streaming from Sasuke's slightly open office door. Naruto walked over slowly and curiously _'maybe he forgot to turn the lights off,'_ he thought to himself, and opened the door slightly to look into the room to see if it was empty, but to his surprise he found Sasuke, sitting at his desk, rubbing his temple with his finger and thumb. "Sasuke?" the words came out of Naruto's mouth before he could register saying them and he immediately regretted it, he didn't want to pry and ask why his boss was currently sitting in an empty office at midnight but he couldn't just run away now, besides the raven was staring straight at him.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked the blond who panicked before he remembered the keys hanging loosely from his ring finger.

"I uh- forgot my keys," Naruto said somewhat nervously, showing the raven the metal dangling from his finger as proof. Sasuke just nodded, looking back at his computer screen, but the blond didn't leave, for some reason he wanted to make sure his boss was ok, "is everything alright?" he asked in a concerned voice and Sasuke shot him a dark glare.

"Dobe, you're my assistant not my keeper and work finished hours ago so you can stop pretending to care," Sasuke snapped bitterly and the blond bristled, scowling, something the man never usually did.

"Gee teme I was just trying to be nice, you know the saying a problem shared is a problem halved, but it looks like you don't want my help so I guess I'll just leave!" Naruto said just as bitterly and stormed out of the office and into the elevator, slamming his finger on the 1st floor button like said button had caused him some sort of pain, though with the force Naruto had abused the thing, it now had, and he swore as he clutched his bruising finger. Naruto's anger didn't subside as the elevator descended, and in a blind hurry to get out of the building he walked straight into someone as the doors opened and landed on the floor with a thud.

"Are you ok?" the voice said and Naruto's eyes shot open to see Itachi looking down at him, his head tilted to the side slightly with confusion.

"S-sorry Itachi, I didn't mean to walk into you like that!" Naruto said hurriedly and scrambled to his feet and Itachi laughed.

"No harm no foul," he said and smiled shortly, "what are you doing here anyway? It's a little late don't you think?"

"I forgot my keys so I came to pick them up," Naruto said for the second time, his hands clutched tightly around the item in question which had begun cutting into his skin in his rage. "I better be going," Naruto mumbled as he walked away from the man who called to him.

"Let me give you a ride, it's a bit late to find your own way home."

"Really its ok I'll manage-" Naruto tried to say but the older raven cut him off.

"I insist," he said and pulled out his own car keys, guiding Naruto out of the building and towards his car.

*******

"So what happened?" Itachi asked, breaking the silence as the two drove and snapping Naruto out of his thoughts, the blond immediately shocked by the question. The guy had to be a mind reader.

"I don't know what you mean," Naruto said trying to be somewhat convincing and hoping the older man would believe him which didn't have much success.

"Did Sasuke say something? He usually does, he gets unbelievably cranky when he's working this late," Itachi chuckled, and the blond had a vague feeling that the older raven wouldn't let this go if he kept denying it, so Naruto decided to tell him.

"I just asked him if he was ok and he blew up, saying I'm just his assistant and stop pretending to care!" the blond explained angrily and Itachi smirked.

"That's Sasuke for you, he doesn't let anyone in, not even his own brother," Itachi pretended to be sad very overdramatically and Naruto laughed at the man at how different he was outside of work. "But give it time, I think he might just open up to you," Itachi winked catching Naruto off guard and the blond blushed.

"Why would he open up to me?" He asked, confused and a little embarrassed and Itachi shrugged.

"I just think he will," the raven declared as they pulled up in front of Naruto's apartment building, "here we are." he said and smiled at the blond.

"Thank you for the ride home," Naruto thanked Itachi and beamed at the man.

"No problem Naruto, but maybe you should invest in your own car." Itachi said and chuckled.

"I'll work on it," the blond agreed and closed the car door behind him, waving goodbye to Itachi as he drove away before strolling to his apartment door and walking inside.

He sighed as he lay on his bed and closed his eyes hoping to get some sleep after another hectic day, but he couldn't get the fight out of his head, he didn't know why it bothered him so much, he didn't care what his boss thought of him, though he wondered why he actually cared enough about Sasuke to ask what was wrong, and as the scene kept playing over and over in his head the blond finally gave up on sleep and got up, switching on his computer before getting a glass of water and sitting back down again. Once the computerwas loaded he opened his inbox to check his mail and smiled at the names, the first was Gaara:

**Naruto,  
I hope you arrived home safely and found your keys.  
See you tomorrow.  
Gaara.**

Naruto blushed, Gaara really didn't need to be so concerned about him, but it was sweet.

**Hey Gaara,  
I got home fine; you don't have to worry about me, really, I don't want to be any trouble.  
See you at work.  
Naruto.**

He looked at his next message from Kiba and raised a questioning eyebrow, what could he possibly want this late at night?

**Hey man, you shouldn't have left so early, you missed Choji eat twelve bags of pretzels and throw up all over the floor, it was hilarious.  
See you at work dude.**

Naruto laughed, then sighed, the smile the mail had put on his face wavering slightly, that definitely would have been better than the argument he had had with Sasuke, but he rolled his eyes at the screen as he re-read the message, this guy was such a kid, but he expected as much from Kiba, even if he had only known the guy a couple of days. Naruto moved on to the next message which was one he hadn't been expecting, and his stomach dropped, his heart beat raced as he clicked on the message from 'Sasuke Uchiha' _'please don't say he's firing me'_ Naruto thought repeatedly as he intently read the message before sighing with relief and letting out the breath he'd been holding with the expectation of bad news, fortunately for his that wasn't the case:

**Dobe,  
You're working over time tomorrow; if you fall asleep while we're working you're fired.  
Sasuke.**

Naruto replied with a simple 'sure, sure,' more than relieved that he was getting to keep his job after shouting at his boss like that. Suddenly the blonde's eyes felt heavy, the weight of the daunting day ahead lifted a little by the promising but punishing e-mail, but Naruto didn't care, he could take working longer hours as long as he wasn't getting fired. Sasuke was giving him a second chance, and he was grateful for that. So he turned off the computer and headed for bed, he was glad he wasn't fighting with Sasuke; he feared having to go to work tomorrow if they had been but at least the raven was speaking to him now, and Naruto smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N: Not much to say about this one *shrug* I love Kiba's e-mails x3**

**Review please!**

**Kit~  
**


	3. Overtime

Chapter 3! I was supposed to upload this a while ago, totally forgot, sorry about that.

Anyway enjoy this one. ^^

**Disclaimer: Wonder if I can steal Kakashi? Lets think about that, for now all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, the story idea is mine.**

* * *

"So, how long _is_ 'overtime'?" Naruto asked Sasuke as the pair made their way to the office the next morning, he was sure this was going to be some kind of punishment for last night, he _had_ sort of shouted at the second most powerful man in the building.

"Until I decide you can leave," Sasuke shrugged and smirked.

Definitely punishment, Naruto sighed.

"Excuse me, Naruto?" Gaara said from behind the two and the blond turned around to look at his redhead friend, stopping as he did so.

"What's up Gaara?" he asked as the raven 'hmphed' and continued walking, conversations should be kept for outside of the workplace, but Sasuke wasn't going to wait around either way.

"I was just checking thet you're still coming with us tonight," the redhead said, sending a quick glare in the raven's direction unnoticed by Naruto.

"Oh, sorry Gaara I can't, Sasuke's got me working overtime tonight," Naruto said rubbing the back of his neck and hoping the redhead wouldn't ask why he had to work.

"Ok, I'll let the others know," Gaara said a little disappointment showing though he tried to hide it, though inside he was pissed with that damn Uchiha. "Bye Naruto," the blond nodded and the other walked away.

"Yeah, see you," Naruto replied and quickly caught up with his boss as they both neared their office.

"I hope that was interesting for you," sarcasm laced Sasuke's words and Naruto frowned, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I hope you know you've spoiled my night," he stated bitterly and the raven rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I apologise, I didn't realise it was so important for you to waste your liver on alcohol," Sasuke scoffed and smirked at the other's audible grunt of annoyance.

"Teme," was Naruto's reply as they reached the large doors at the end of the hall.

"Get to work dobe," the raven replied before entering the adjoining doors and closing them behind him. Naruto slumped in his seat, looking at the large stack of papers with a grimace and began working on it no matter how reluctant he was.

"Good morning," a voice snapped the blond out of his work bubble, and Naruto looked up from his current pile of work, impressed when he realised that he'd defeated the largest pile and was onto his next. "I have a letter for Sasuke Uchiha," the man said once he'd gained Naruto's attention and fully entered the room. His long brown hair hung loose down to his waist, a black piece of ribbon tying it at the bottom but the the blond was unsure how effective that would be. his eyes were a strange, pale grey but almost white colour which surprised Naruto, the only other person he'd seen like that was Hinata and he wondered if the two were related. But he definitely hadn't met this man before.

"Um," Naruto said shifting some of the less organised piles of paper to find a small plastic tray. "Could you put it there, I'll take it in when he's in a better mood," the blond said with a small chuckle.

"You must be the new assistant," the other said as he approached the desk to put down the letter and Naruto nodded, "Lee told me about you, its nice to meet you I'm Neji Hyuuga," Neji extended a hand which the blond shook.

"Naruto Uzumaki" he said and Neji nodded. "You must be related to Hinata," the blond questioned, his curiosity taking the better of him and again the brunet nodded.

"She's my cousin," Neji answered. "Have a good day Naruto," the brunet finally said with a small smile as he made his way towards the doors.

"Thanks," the blond said quietly after the door clicked shut and he sighed, pressing the button for the intercom to his boss' room. "You've got a letter Sasuke," Naruto said unenthusiastically and took his finger off the button, waiting for the response that he could take the letter in.

"What does it say?" Came the reply from the raven and Naruto looked at the intercom in disbelief. Did he really just ask that?

"I don't know, it's a crime to open someone else's letters I'm not going to pry or anything" the blond answered and heard the other man mutter something like 'it never stopped you before' then sigh and Naruto frowned at the little black box as if it were Sasuke.

"Just open it dobe and tell me what it says," Sasuke finally demanded and Naruto reluctantly picked up the envelope and opened it, convinced a police officer was going to barge in at any moment and arrest him for doing so, he doubted he could plead innocence if the case was against Sasuke. Once opened he took out the letter and read it out loud, the button held down by a paper weight so he could flip the pages. "It's from your accountants, they've sent the list of your expenses through the company and the money paid in from the new advertising." Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed the large number of zero's printed at the bottom of the page but said nothing _'he makes double the amount I make in a year in a month, if not more'_ he thought and sighed at his lousy and badly paid job.

"Bring it in then I'll have to run through the numbers," Sasuke said and the blond stood up, mumbling 'you could have told me to do that in the first place' as he entered the other room, placing the letter facing the raven on the desk.

"Anything else you need?" Naruto asked his boss in a bored tone, but the raven just shook his head and the blond left the room.

*******

"Sasuke," Naruto said, peering around the door a few hours later, the other workers had proceeded to leave hours previously, Kiba taking the time out to make his way to Naruto's office to mock and take pity on the blond before he left saying 'enjoy your bonding time with the ice prince, we'll drink to your misery,' to which Naruto gave the brunet the finger and finally throwing his stapler at the man once he started laughing.

"I've finished my work, is there anything you need me to do?" he asked and the raven signalled the blond to come in and sit down, something Naruto was now wary of since this wasn't a common thing.

"These are the images for a new product," Sasuke said, placing two finished advertisements in front of the blond. "I want you to tell me what's wrong with them," Sasuke rubbed his temples as he stood up from his seat, taking a small canister of pills from his drawer and taking two as he faced the window.

"Um-" Naruto gulped, he knew exactly what was wrong with these images in three words 'they were unimaginative' but he'd never been asked his opinion on something like this before, and if he was honest, he was scared to tell Sasuke what he thought at all. "W-well," the blond started, taking a deep breath and steeling himself for what Sasuke would say about his opinion. "The product isn't as pronounced as it should be, too many people clutter the page for anyone to really know what its about and the models look fake," Naruto said and let out the breath he'd been holding slowly, looking up at his boss who kept his eyes on the currently glowing outside world. "Sasuke?" the blond said after a long, silent moment and the raven sighed before turning around and sitting back down his face looked gaunt and tired in the bad lighting and Naruto felt worry well inside of him. "Is something wrong?" He asked without thinking.

Sasuke shook his head, "it's nothing," he replied, a harshness behind the words telling Naruto not to push the subject as Sasuke took the images back to look at them again."I'm surprised," the raven said still looking at the images, "most people wouldn't be able to answer like that," he admitted.

Naruto blushed slightly though he wasn't sure why, then again he had never expected praise from the raven, "its just kind of obvious," the blond shrugged.

"_I_ know it is, that's why I'm a higher part of the company," '_and back comes the high and mighty_' Naruto thought to himself. "Try asking the same question to the other losers around here and they wouldn't have a clue." Sasuke said and placed the images back on the table, shocking Naruto slightly that the raven wasn't actually making himself out to be better than him. "You can go now Naruto," he added.

"Really?" the blond asked, a little shocked that Sasuke was letting him go, he thought the raven might have kept him all night to see him suffer, but the raven just shooed him and the blond left with a smile. "Good night Sasuke," he said to his boss and received a 'hn' in response as he closed the door making Naruto smile wider as he walked away.

*******

Naruto returned home to find his answering machine flashing _'I never get messages'_ the blond thought curiously, and pressed the 'play' button before walking towards the kitchen to get himself a well deserved meal.

"Hello Naruto, its Gaara," the answering machine said and the blond stood still to listen to the message, wondering why the redhead would be calling since he'd seen him earlier. "I was wondering, if you're not busy tomorrow, if you'd like to go out somewhere? I'll pick you up at around eleven if I don't get a call back, bye Naruto." The machine beeped again "you have no more messages," the mechanical voice spoke, the light halting in it's flashing and Naruto yawned, deciding he was too tired to eat, so he went to bed to sleep, lying down under the comfort of the covers and sighing contentedly, he was glad the weekend had arrived so soon.

The blond awoke with stinging eyes as the sunlight poured into his room; he slapped his forehead as he remembered he hadn't closed the curtains last night in his extremely sleepy state, and got up out of bed. Naruto walked into the living room and looked at the small clock on the table beside the phone and sighed, it was a good thing he'd woke up anyway or else he'd be late for Gaara arriving. The blond proceeded to shower and eat breakfast, mulling over the question of 'was this an actual date?' before a knock on the door snapped him out of his pondering just as the blond was searching for his misplaced wallet. Without checking the time Naruto sighed and dropped the jeans he was searching to answer the door only to be presented with the last person he'd expected to see, "what are you doing here Sasuke?" Naruto questioned with slightly wide eyes at the unexpected visit and the raven smirked.

"I found this on your desk," Sasuke answered, waving the small black wallet before handing it back to Naruto. "I thought you might need it."

Naruto took the wallet and pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead as he realised he had left it on top of the letter tray. "Oh yeah that's where I left it," the blond said with sudden realisation and laughed once in embarrassment, "thanks Sasuke, I was just looking for it."

"You should stop forgetting things at work dobe it's troublesome" the raven scolded with a smirk as the blond pouted.

"Gee when did you turn into my mom _or_ Shikamaru, teme."

"What are you doing here?" A cold voice came from beside the raven and the pair turned to see Gaara glaring at Sasuke, whose smirk only grew wider since the other was now obviously and thoroughly pissed off.

"I don't think that's any of your business _Sabaku_" Sasuke answered, biting out the name, and the redhead shot the raven another dark glare before turning to look at Naruto, his expression much more gentle.

"Are you ready to go?" Gaara asked and Naruto nodded, trying his best to ignore the scene, he guessed everyone was like that with Sasuke.

"I just need to get my jacket," the blond said then turned back to look at Sasuke, his expression softening slightly as he looked at the raven. "Thanks again for bringing my wallet Sasuke," he thanked him and the raven shrugged.

"Don't count on it happening again dobe," he said and turned away from the blond, walking past Gaara as he left without a second glance.

"See you Monday Sasuke!" Naruto called, waving as he did and the raven lifted his hand in a slight twitch before burying it in his jacket pocket once again.

"So where are we going?" Naruto asked as Gaara drove the pair into town.

"Well are you new to town?" Gaara asked "because I can show you around if you like."

"Sounds great," the blond answered flashing the redhead a quick smile before turning to face the road again.

The two explored town for a long time, Gaara showed Naruto where the movie theatre was and offered to take him some time. Then they went the park, the restaurants and many of the other bustling local places until the two finally sat on the tall cliff edge above and away from the rest of the town, watching the sunset slowly and lazily over the town, the chilly breeze gave Naruto familiar Goosebumps and he breathed in deeply as he watched the orange sky darken, a slight, reminiscent twitch pulled at his heart and he tried to take his mind away from it, "thanks Gaara, I had fun today." Naruto smiled after the short silence.

"I'm glad," the redhead said and smiled back at Naruto. "It was the least I could do, since you're new around here," he continued and shuffled closer to the blond, "you look cold," Gaara stated, and leaned towards Naruto.

"Oh, I'm fine-" the blond began to say as he turned his head, but instead of finishing his sentence he was met by a pair of lips attached to a certain redhead and after getting over the initial shock that Gaara had decided to kiss him the blond pulled away and looked back out at the town, a slight blush appearing on his face, "how long have you lived here?" Naruto asked and Gaara moved back to sit straight, disappointment and worry crossing his face but the blond didn't see it.

"A few years," the redhead answered. "I've been working at the company for just as long, and I've met some strange people."

Naruto laughed at the answer, and shivered as a cold breeze passed over them both. "I think I should be getting back," he said and stood, offering a hand to Gaara who took it and helped himself up, the redhead's hand hovering briefly over Naruto's before letting go.

"I'll take you home," the redhead said and Naruto gave a grateful nod as the two made their way back to the car.

"Listen Naruto," Gaara started as he turned off the car engine outside the blonde's apartment building. They had been mostly quiet on the car ride back, and he knew he had to say something now before it was forgotten about, or at least never mentioned again. "I'm sorry if what I did before was out of order, but I needed to let you know that I like you, and I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?" the redhead asked hopefully and looked at Naruto who smiled slightly but looked away when it wavered, unsure if he really wanted to, but he felt guilty for wanting to say no. They hadn't known each other for very long after all, but Gaara seemed to really want to be with him.

"I'd like that," the blond answered, holding his smile this time as he opened the car door. "Thanks again for today Gaara I really had a good time, I'll see you Monday."

"Good night Naruto," the redhead replied and the blond shut the door. He heard the engine start as he began walking up the stairs to his apartment and let out a long breath, finally letting his muscles relax and his face frown slightly.

Naruto hung up his jacket as he walked into the living room but stopped briefly as he set his coat on the hook and sighed finally letting his thoughts pan themselves out. Sure he liked Gaara but Naruto wished that the question had brought butterflies and made him feel extremely happy like he'd heard it did, instead he felt his stomach tighten a little, which just made him feel guilty. He finally turned left towards the bedroom before stopping and turning on his computer, deciding to check his e-mails first before heading to bed, and as it loaded the blond poured himself a glass of milk.

The first message was from Kiba to which Naruto rolled his eyes, would it be more gloating?

**Dude it sucks to be you, you missed your first Friday night fun night out and it was a good one too. Make sure you don't get your ass busted again and have to work overtime next Friday too!**

Peace man.

Naruto sighed, deciding against even bothering to reply and moving on to the next one, which was a surprise to the blond as he read the name 'Itachi Uchiha' and clicked on the e-mail:

**Naruto,**

Sasuke told me about your answer concerning the advertising images, well done; perhaps we can discuss a promotion in the future if you prove to be such an asset.

Itachi.

Naruto smiled joyfully, he had just been praised by the most important man in the company! Not to mention _Sasuke_ had told Itachi about it. That was celebration enough for Naruto. He opened the next e-mail from his boss with a smile on his face, and the short message made Naruto's stomach flip happily though he wasn't paying too much attention to the feeling. It was sent at around noon and only contained two words.

**Be careful.**

Naruto smiled, his heart fluttering a little, and mouthed 'thank you' before shutting down the computer and heading to bed.

* * *

**A/N: I've not got much to say, again I love Kiba x3 on to the next revamp! :DD**

**Review please**

**Kit~**


	4. Stress

Chapter 4 because I got it finished today. (:

Enjoy please.

**Disclaimer: Kakashi?.. or Neji? Hmm, until I decide all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto the story and idea is mine.**

* * *

~Sasuke~

**"You can go now Naruto," he added.**

"Really?" the blond asked, a little shocked that Sasuke was letting him go, he thought the raven might have kept him all night to see him suffer, but the raven just shooed him and the blond left with a smile. "Good night Sasuke," he said to his boss and received a 'hn' in response as he closed the door making Naruto smile wider as he walked away.

********

Sasuke sighed as the door clicked shut behind the blond and he lay his head in his hands, maybe he should go home? "tch," Sasuke scoffed at the thought, hell was a more appropriate word for _that_ place, if he had his way he wouldn't be going back there ever again. Sasuke stood restlessly from his seat, turning to stare out of the large windows for the second time that night, watching as a few more lights flickered out and the sky darkened slightly more, he was there for a long while before the phone began to ring and he picked it up with a sigh and roll of his eyes, turning back from the twinkling night sky to face into the dully lit room again. "What do you want Itachi?" he asked through the receiver and heard a quiet laugh in return.

"Am I really _that_ predictable?" the other raven asked and Sasuke could hear the amusement in his voice. Itachi already knew he really was that predictable. "Go home Sasuke," was all Itachi said before putting down the phone.

Sasuke placed the phone back, leaning back in his seat and sighing. He hated that Itachi could just tell him to do something like that and he'd do it, even if he had been debating it in the first place. He stayed seated for a few more minutes before finally standing up from his desk, turning off his computer as he went and flipped the switch of his desk lamp; the room became dimmer still, but even in the dull light it looked almost warm… a lot warmer than the place he was going back to.

As Sasuke walked out of his office he glanced over to his assistant's desk like he had done everyday since the blond had arrived. For some reason he expected Naruto to still be there working, his attention was drawn then to the blonde's desk lamp which he'd left switched on. _'Dobe'_ the raven mumbled and shook his head though he couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face as he walked round his assistant's desk and flipping off the light switch. As Sasuke moved his attention back to the dim room he noticed a small, black leather object on the desk and sighed _'idiot left his wallet,'_ the raven picked up the wallet and looked up at the wall clock, _'its too late to take it now… though he was stupid enough to leave it maybe I should go wake him up,'_ Sasuke smirked at the idea before deciding he was too tired to care and he would take it back in the morning.

Sasuke entered the house quietly, -anything to stop his wife from waking up and coming down to talk to him, he couldn't stand the multitude of questions he'd be presented with. He remembered the first time it'd happened, and it still made him scoff disbelievingly that the woman would always question if he was cheating on her. If only.

Sasuke walked to the kitchen, turning on the light when he got to the room and poured some coffee, as if he needed anymore reason to lose sleep. Once poured the raven made his way up to his room and placed the coffee on the bedside table, opening the draw beneath it and retrieved a small packet, putting his hand in and pulling out a bottle of tablets. He took two of them with his drink before putting the bottle back in the draw and changing for bed, finally falling into a restless sleep.

Sasuke awoke a few hours later feeling like he hadn't slept at all, the sun was just peering above the tall tree tops near his home and the raven found no reason to go back to sleep since he'd have to get up soon anyway, so he got out of bed and showered before going downstairs and into the kitchen where Sakura was sitting at the island in the centre of the room making Sasuke curse her early morning habits. "Good morning Sasuke," she greeted as she walked over to the him, kissing his cheek before retrieving a carton of orange juice from the fridge beside him and finally sitting back down. Sasuke sat at the other end of the table, placing down his toast and coffee and ate quietly before a knock came from the kitchen door frame.

"Good morning you two," a voice accompanied the knock as a tall man walked into the kitchen and sat at the table in between the pair, his strangely silver hair shining in the sunlight though he wasn't much older that either of the others.

"Ever heard of knocking Kakashi?" Sasuke asked and the other man chuckled.

"Well technically-"

"Never mind," Sasuke said with a sigh, he didn't care much for Kakashi's technicalities. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked instead.

"Sakura's parents asked me to check up on her," the silverette answered and rolled his eyes but the raven knew perfectly well that he didn't care; he probably volunteered to do it. Actually Sasuke would bet all of his money Kakashi would have refused to let anyone else go.

The raven stood up from the table and put his plate in the sink; retrieving a glass and pouring himself a glass of water, taking two of his tablets before walking towards the door. "Where are you going Sasuke?" Sakura asked and the raven stopped to look back at her, her eyes showed no sign of wanting an answer but she knew she should ask just to look like she cared. The whole idea sickened the raven, and he was glad he actually had an excuse to leave, though he'd still go even if he didn't.

"I have things to do," Sasuke answered plainly, "I'll be back later," he said and picked up his keys before leaving the house.

Sasuke looked at the small clock in his car and started the engine, _'Naruto should be up by now'_ he thought and made his way towards the blonde's apartment. Sasuke arrived just before eleven and took the leather wallet out of the glove box, sliding it into his pocket before getting out of the car and walking towards the apartment building. He checked a piece of paper tucked into the pocket of his jeans for Naruto's floor and room number before he began to climb the stairs, debating why he was going up in the first place, he was sure the blond could live without his wallet for a weekend -that idea made Sasuke smirk amusedly, he could imagine the blond panicking about his lost wallet, and he cursed himself for not deciding to have some fun with this. It was a little late for that now though-, or he could go to his office and pick it up himself if he had to, so why was Sasuke taking time out of his utterly eventless day to drop the thing off? Maybe he was turning over a new leaf, finding a part of himself he had never realised he had?.. The raven scoffed, there was no way that was right, or maybe it was just the simple fact that this was something to do rather than sit around the insane asylum all day with his bubble gum pink wife. He was grateful for the excuse however, if he had cared about his 'wife' it would have sickened him to have Kakashi in the same room, but he couldn't care less, he'd just never liked the man. Or perhaps it was- Sasuke shook his head at the next reason why he was here, deeming it absurd and knocked on the blonde's door, he couldn't even think the other reason, but the shocked expression on Naruto's face made the raven smirk whether he wanted to or not.

"What are you doing here Sasuke?" Naruto asked his eyes wide with shock and Sasuke could have laughed, if he knew how.

"I found this on your desk," Sasuke answered, waving the small black wallet before handing it back to Naruto. "I thought you might need it."

Naruto took the wallet and pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead and Sasuke saw the realisation strike him. "Oh yeah, that's where I left it," the blond said and gave a small, embarrassed laugh. "Thanks Sasuke, I was just looking for it."

"You should stop forgetting things at work dobe it's troublesome," the raven smirked again amusedly though he felt his stomach jolt a little at Naruto's smile, he couldn't deny that it was a beautiful expression for the blond, but he wouldn't tell anyone he thought so.

"Gee when did you turn into my mom _or_ Shikamaru, teme" the blond pouted.

"What are_ you_ doing here?" A cold voice came from beside the raven and the pair turned to see Gaara glaring at Sasuke, whose smirk only grew wider since the other was now obviously and thoroughly pissed off. Oh he could definitely have some fun here.

"I don't think that's any of your business _Sabaku_" Sasuke answered, biting out the name, internally amused but he didn't show it, and the redhead shot the raven another dark glare before turning to look at Naruto, his expression much more gentle making the raven scoff, but aggravating him at the same time.

"Are you ready to go?" Gaara asked and Sasuke watched as Naruto nodded, the raven frowning slightly, why would he go out with _this_ guy?

"I just need to get my jacket," the blond said then turned back to look at the raven, who noticed the blonde's expression soften slightly and held back the strong urge welling up in him to laugh in the redhead's face, that would be highly out of character for him. "Thanks again for bringing my wallet Sasuke," Naruto thanked him and the raven shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't count on it happening again dobe," he said and turned away from the blond, walking past Gaara as he left without a second glance.

"See you Monday Sasuke!" Naruto called, waving as he did and the raven lifted his hand in a slight twitch before burying it in his jacket pocket once again.

Sasuke got back into his car and drove away, deciding he'd go to house, he'd rather go there than home, even if his brother did annoy the crap out of him sometimes.

He arrived at the large estate, -the walls around the house high but still insignificant compared to the house itself- and pushed the intercom button beside the front gate, an answering, "who is it?" in his brother's fake sing song voice made the younger Uchiha glare at the metal box.

"You know it's me Itachi, open up."

"Geez Sasuke you're always so uptight, maybe I shouldn't let you in at all," the other raven jested with obvious amusement before the gates opened in front of Sasuke and he drove to the front of the house. "So what brings you here today little brother?" Itachi asked as Sasuke walked into the spacious front room, closing the front door behind him as he did so.

"It's better than going home," the younger raven answered with a sigh and walked into his brother's kitchen where a strange looking man was standing cutting vegetables, his skin so pale it looked almost grey, his grin toothy to match his somewhat jagged teeth.

"Long time no see Sasuke," the man said, waving his knife in a greeting gesture at the other.

"Kisame," Sasuke regarded the other and poured a glass of water, drinking it down as he took two of his usual tablets.

"So where have you been this morning?" Itachi asked, "it's a little late for you to have just left home, I know you there's no way you'd hang around there for longer than five minutes." The older Uchiha smirked and Sasuke sighed, damn his brother for being around him for so long.

"If you must know I went to give Naruto his wallet back, he left it at work yesterday," the two brothers heard a clatter of metal behind then and turned to see Kisame picking his knife up off the floor, looking utterly gob smacked, Itachi muffled his laughter poorly and Sasuke huffed.

"Wow brother, did someone hit you on the head in your sleep? I think you've been taking too many of those pills, they're finally going to your head," Itachi continued to grin and went to put a hand on the other raven's forehead which was swiftly batted away. "Good, a normal reaction, now tell me what happened?" Sasuke glared up at his brother, why was he so obsessed with prying? "And don't give me any of this 'nothing' crap, I know you too well brother, you can't fool me."

"I don't like Gaara," Sasuke mumbled, realising that all he'd done on the drive to his brother's was loath the redhead and his plans with the blond, he didn't envy him or anything, but Naruto was his assistant and his welfare affected his job performance which would in turn affect Sasuke… at least that's what he kept telling himself. "Can I use your computer?" the younger raven asked and Itachi nodded. Sasuke stood up and walked into his brother's large study, turning the computer on and sitting down, his body went on auto pilot as Sasuke thought irrationally about what bad things could possibly happen to the blond with Gaara and as he thought his hands removed e-mails and clicked on Naruto's address to add a message which was sent before Sasuke could really even think about it. The raven stared at the screen telling him his e-mail had been sent _'what the hell is wrong with me?'_ he asked himself, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. His confusion only made his mood worse and the young Uchiha turned off the computer forcefully, marching back down and sitting himself once again in Itachi's kitchen with furrowed brows and a scowl.

"Are you staying for lunch?" the older raven asked, deciding it best to avoid asking Sasuke what was wrong right now in case the younger raven finally decide to snap. "I'm sure you don't want to go home just yet," Itachi finished and sat at the table with his brother. "Did you look at the images I sent down?"

"Yes." Sasuke replied, sighing to calm himself down and his face turned passive again. "I asked Naruto to look too, he knows more about advertising than anyone else on that floor, or at least he's not afraid to tell me what he thinks," the raven finished and the older Uchiha looked at him in shock.

"Was that a compliment coming from the ice prince?" Itachi asked and smirked as Sasuke glared at him, he already knew most of the employees called him that but did Itachi have to pick up on the name as well? "Maybe we should offer Naruto a better job," Itachi said and shrugged, "or maybe not," he finished with a small, cunning smirk before the three men sat down for lunch.

*******

"Come back soon brother, I always love our quality time together," Itachi waved off Sasuke as he descended the porch steps and walked to his car, ignoring the other male and his stupid behaviour. The sun had already set as Sasuke drove home and he hoped he wouldn't see Sakura when he arrived back, the raven noticed that Kakashi's silver Porsche was missing when he parked the car, _'I guess he got what he came for and left'_ Sasuke thought as he walked to the front door, his key ring spinning around his ring finger mechanically as he walked.

"Welcome home," Sakura greeted her husband as he closed the door into the hall and he nodded as he walked towards the kitchen, taking his pills with another cup of coffee. "Sasuke," the pink haired woman said nervously from the living room doorway as the raven ascended the stair, "can I talk to you?" she asked and Sasuke sighed, not willing to deal with anything she had to say right now.

"Not now Sakura."

"It's important," she tried to argue weekly but the raven shook his head.

"I have work to do," he replied and walked to his study, locking the door behind him. He knew it sounded cruel to shun his wife like that but honestly, she deserved it, and though he didn't care for her he would imprison her in this relationship just like she had done to him. Sasuke knew exactly what Sakura wanted to talk about after all.

The raven sat down at his desk, looking over at the digital clock beside the computer as he did so. It was almost eleven and he knew he had no work to do; regardless he refused to leave his sanctuary in fear of being ambushed in some way by Sakura. So Sasuke resorted to thinking, which wasn't really his best plan since only one thing came to mind; where did Naruto go with Gaara? And more importantly what happened? The raven had heard about the redhead's reputation not only from the residents of Konoha but from Gaara's previous home in Suna -Sasuke had made sure to check his background when he had arrived, he'd never liked the look of the redhead- and it wasn't something Sasuke was overly impressed with. Not that he was bothered until Naruto arrived, _'why do I even care?'_ the raven wondered as he leaned back against his chair, this question had been plaguing him for a few days now but he had often more important things to think about, but now that he was alone and had nothing to do it pushed its way to the front of his mind and refused to budge. But in Sasuke's stubbornness he refused to answer it, he didn't want to know the answer, or at least he didn't want to admit it.

The raven had a long, internal battle until the early hours of the morning before he decided to get some sleep, though as usual it was restless, though his dreams seemed to take a different course than usual and Sasuke awoke feeling rested if only a little.

Perhaps things were finally changing.

* * *

**A/N: We all know what's happening to Sasuke here. ((x**

**I hope you liked the chapter.**

**Please Review.**

**Kit~  
**


	5. Tell Me About It

**Disclaimer: ...or maybe Gaara? Masashi Kishimoto owns all! Including you, Itachi. The story is mine though. **

* * *

"So, you and Gaara eh?" Kiba asked, nudging the blond with a wink as they walked out of the meeting room on Monday morning.

"You heard about that huh?" Naruto asked with a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"Of course I heard Naruto, everyone has," the brunet replied with a matter-of-fact tone and the blond blushed a light shade of pink before he noticed a raven man pass him and he was happy for the escape.

"Gotta go Kiba," Naruto called as he walked away from the man and ahead to catch up with his boss, "um, Sasuke-"

"Don't disturb me for any reason today Naruto, understand? I have a lot of work to do," the raven cut the blond off mid sentence as he swiftly moved towards his office doors, opening them without another word.

"Oh, ok," Naruto said as his boss walked away and closed the doors, confused by Sasuke's mood. The blond stood silently in the middle of the room and stared for a long moment at the door, _'I wonder what's wrong,' _ Naruto wondered as he stood, before he finally sighed and sat down at his desk.

Sasuke sat down and leaned back against his chair for a while, closing his tired eyes before sitting up again and taking two of his tablets. He had lied to the blond, he didn't actually have anything to do really, but his discovery of Saturdays events had put him in a slightly off mood and talking to the blond today didn't sound at all appealing to him, so Sasuke locked himself in his room, like he did every other day at home when he wanted to avoid someone, though this time he didn't want to be in here, this time it felt more like a prison than a sanctuary which the raven just found irritating. But who was he to change his mind and go talk to the blond? He was an Uchiha; there was no way he was going to get in the way of his own stubbornness.

The no contact routine they had developed continued for the rest of the week, though neither of them really understood the reason for it in the first place, and both men would have been happy to stop being so childish after the first ten minutes of it starting, but neither would speak first. Naruto noticed after the first two days that it was obviously him Sasuke didn't want to see, so he huffed and didn't say a word to the raven, offended and confused by the gesture and grew increasingly frustrated as the days passed and as much as he tried to hide it, the others noticed too, questioning the blond about his mood though he would only say that he was fine, or stressed, even to Gaara.

******

Naruto finally looked up at the clock on the office wall on Friday afternoon, there was only another hour left of work and the blond sighed, tapping his pen repeatedly off the surface of the desk. He was just about ready to give up for the weekend, tired of what had been happening and drained from his work. Naruto leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes until the stuttering of the timid receptionist reached his ears and he sat up, realising the girl's voice was coming from outside of the office and getting closer, accompanied by –in Naruto's opinion- a very loud, obnoxious voice from another female. "Please, you n-need an appointment to s-see Sasuke" the receptionist pleaded in a flustered tone, obviously confused by the other's presence and obvious lack of respect towards company policy.

"What's wrong Hinata?" Kiba asked, walking over to the girl with no clue of what was going on, but he was cut off by the other participant of the conversation.

"_I_ don't need an appointment, don't you know who I _am_!?" The obnoxious voice suddenly became louder as the attached body burst through the doors and Naruto stood quickly, blocking the way to Sasuke's room where the unknown female was trying to enter.

"Can I help you?" he asked the woman in a calm voice, her detestable pink hair suited her loud voice as she stood and attempted to look down at Naruto who stood his ground firmly, whoever she was, she wasn't getting past Naruto, he was sure of that.

"No."

Her statement was sharp and blunt but didn't phase Naruto, who stood in her was again once she tried to walk around him before he said "then you will have to leave." Naruto's own words were demanding but the pink haired woman didn't move, just glared at him.

"Let me through," she gritted out, harshness in her words but again the blond did not budge. "I have every right to-".

"Sasuke is busy at the moment, if it is so urgent you may leave a message with me and I will let him know you were here as soon as he is finished, otherwise, I'm asking you to leave."

"And who are _you_, to tell me what to do?"

"I am Sasuke's assistant, and unless _I_ know that you have an appointment you won't enter this office. So for the last time," Naruto leered down at the woman with demanding authority, "_leave_."

She glared back at the blond with an angry huff before turning around and storming out of the room, all eyes of the audience followed her back until they all turned them back to Naruto all of them shocked. "Ok that is quite enough everyone, back to what I pay you for," everyone jumped in surprise and scrambled at the sound of Itachi's voice as he entered the room, grinning as everyone ran off. Once everyone was gone he turned to look at Naruto with a smile, "please do let my brother know about his… visitor," the older Uchiha's smile turned into a Cheshire cat smirk as he walked away and Naruto looked at him bemused before knocking on his boss's door and opening it, Sasuke couldn't tell him off it Itachi told him to do it in the first place.

"Sasuke," the blond said as he peered around the door, said ravens' chair spun so Naruto could only see the back of it as Sasuke stared out of the window.

"Is she gone?" Sasuke asked as he turned around to face Naruto who nodded and the raven gave a relieved sigh, picking up his bottle of medication and taking his usual tablets, the blond watching him do so curious to know what that bottle was. "I'm impressed," he finally said as he set the bottle onto the table again and gained Naruto's attention, "not one of my other assistants managed to get her away," the blond blushed at the compliment.

"Does she usually do that?" the blond asked, completely confused about what had just happened and hoping his red flush would go away.

"Yes," the raven went back to his monotone, staring at the door in case she intended to come back, she'd done it before. "That woman was Sakura, if you remember, she cancelled some plans last week?" Naruto simply nodded, he didn't understand why this information was supposed to be important to him, "that… is my wife."

The blonde's eyes and mouth shot open to gawk at his boss _'that's his wife?!' _ "that's your wife?!" Naruto questioned in complete shock and pointed towards the door before clamping his hand over his mouth to stop any further outburst. "S-sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he spluttered as he tried to redeem himself but Sasuke just chuckled.

"No need to apologise, I could say worse than that," Naruto looked at the raven with a bemused expression, why would he say that? Even if the woman did seem to be a bit of a psychopath.

"So it was a good thing I didn't let her in?" the blond questioned and the raven nodded, "well at least I'm not getting fired for it," Naruto admitted with a relieved chuckle. "I'll be at my desk if you need me," the blond smiled, happy that the tension they seemed to have been holding for the past week had finally lifted before leaving Sasuke's room and closing the door.

Naruto sat at his desk in a better mood for the rest of the day, finishing his work until,"Naruto, could you come in here please?" the raven asked through the intercom and the blond stood from his chair, making his way into Sasuke's office.

"You called," Naruto said and sat in front of the raven at his desk.

"Yes, I need you to work tonight, if your body can last without the alcohol for one night," Sasuke smirked at the blonde's pout.

"Gee and Kiba told me to be there tonight," the blond mumbled with a sigh.

"It's not a request dobe, besides it may help towards you getting a promotion."

"I know I don't have a choice teme," Naruto replied, like he could say no to this guy, he wasn't bothered about the promotion, he just didn't want to get fired. "Fine," the blond finally agreed and left the raven's office to inform the others.

"Aww man again?" the brunet complained and Naruto nodded.

"Looks like it," he said and Kiba huffed.

"Damn that Sasuke, two Fridays in a row too," Kiba mumbled and the blond laughed. "Well, your funeral, you should go tell Gaara, I don't want to be there when he finds out, and lets hope he doesn't see Sasuke for the rest of the day," the brunet said and the blond blushed as he waved goodbye to his friend, surely Gaara wouldn't be that bothered.

"Hey Gaara," the blond greeted as he reached the redhead's office and knocked on the open doorframe.

"Hello Naruto," Gaara replied with a smile as he walked over and kissed the blond quickly on the lips, "what are you doing here?" He questioned, it wasn't like Sasuke to let his employees take a break.

"I've got a bit of bad news actually," the blond admitted with an apologetic look and Gaara frowned.

"Sasuke again."

Yeah," Naruto nodded, "I have to work again tonight, you guys will have to go without me."

The redhead grimaced, "that damned Sasuke," Gaara said and Naruto took the redhead's hand, hopefully this would make it up to him a little.

"Don't worry about it, I'll see you tomorrow?" the blond asked and Gaara nodded.

"Ok, I'll call you," the redhead finally said and kissed Naruto again before the blond left and walked back to his office.

"Ok I told them," Naruto admitted as he walked back into Sasukes' office and sat down. _'If only you appreciated it.'_

"Good, you'll be working in my office most of the night, my brother said he may come down to see the product of our work tonight and think about a promotion for you," Sasuke finished as he sat opposite the blond, putting down the papers he had in his hands.

"Oh," Naruto replied a little uncertain.

"What?" The raven asked and the blond just smiled weakly at his boss.

"Well," Naruto started, though he felt slightly embarrassed. "I like my job," he finished and looked up to see Sasuke smirking amusedly.

"Say that to anyone in this building and they'll think you're delusional," the raven said and Naruto laughed.

"I guess it'll be our secret then," the blond joked back before the two started work.

******

"Trust Itachi not to show up," the raven complained as he locked his office door, it was almost two in the morning now and the pair had finally decided to call it a night, though Itachi hadn't even bothered to call and say he wouldn't be there, resulting in a slightly irritated Sasuke, 'why did he even bother to say he was coming'.

"I'm sure we can tell him about all of our work on Monday," the blond answered and yawned as they both made their way towards the elevator. The journey to the bottom floor was silent from the exhaustion, neither of them having anything to say anymore, but it was comfortable, more so than Naruto could say about anyone else he usually travelled with.

"Naruto," the raven said as the blond walked away and towards the street, said blond turning to look at his boss. "Do you need a ride home?" Sasuke asked and the blond blushed, it was still so strange having Sasuke act so nice towards him.

"You don't mind?" Naruto asked and Sasuke scoffed.

"I'd rather lose an assistant because I fired them, not because I hear they've murdered while making their way home, besides if that happens Itachi will blame me and find me another assistant." Sasuke stated with a roll of his eyes as he walked to his car, the blond following at his heels like he did at work, watching the ring on the raven's keys click against his wedding ring, "besides, it's not like I have anywhere better to be," Sasuke finally stated as the two climbed into the car.

"So how come you married Sakura?" the blond asked as Sasuke drove, he'd been curious about that since he'd heard the man was married. "I'm not to pry or anything she just-" Naruto stopped and thought about the right way to say what he wanted to without sounding offensive "doesn't seem like your type."

"Long story," the raven stated with a sigh.

"Well I don't have anywhere to be," the blond smiled, Sasuke honestly looked like he needed someone to talk to in the blonde's opinion.

"You want to hear the whole thing?" the raven asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Sure."

"Ok," Sasuke said and changed the course of their drive.

"Where are we going?" the blond asked curiously as Sasuke drove up the winding road Naruto recognised as the one leading to the cliff top.

"Well I'm not driving for the whole story." The raven smirked as he stopped the car and put on the hand brake.

"Wow," Naruto awed as he exited the car, "it looks even better at night." The city was dark and dimly lit by street lamps and the occasional room light in a building including the very top room of the Uchiha building, which didn't surprise Naruto really, he wasn't even sure Itachi slept. The dark sky blinked and shimmered with stars over the town making it look peaceful compared to the daily bustle he was so used to.

The two men sat at the edge of the hill and Naruto breathed in the sweet, spring air contentedly. "Why don't you start from the beginning?" the blond started and smiled at Sasuke who sat facing the city with his eyes closed and if Naruto hadn't known better he would have thought the raven was sleeping, though even with that expression he still looked troubled. He wondered if that was how the raven slept, with such a stressed look.

"My family had always been well known for our business," Sasuke began his story and nodded in the direction of the large company building, "so of course my parents would mingle with many wealthy families, making deals and partners the way all owners do. One of these families especially close to us business wise and socially was the Haruno's. As a child I would often see the older members of the family talking to my parents and thought nothing of it, after all it was only business right? Well, they would often bring their daughter, Sakura with them." Sasuke frowned at the memory and Naruto unknowingly mirrored his look from his strong distaste for the woman. "She used to follow me everywhere and I never once spoke to her unless it was to tell her to leave me alone though there was really no point, she never listened. This continued thround my childhood and teenage years until finally, on the day of my eighteenth birthday my parents informed me of an arranged marriage that I was to be the groom of a week later, but they refused to tell me who it was to, they probably knew I would flat out refuse if they had." Naruto's eyes grew wide, it was such a cruel thing to do to another person and it definitely answered his question. "Before I knew it Sakura had become my wife for the benefit of my parents and I was trapped like a prisoner, it was like living a nightmare." Sasuke finished and turned to look at Naruto, smirking at the blonde's expression, "is it really that surprising?"

"I guess I just… didn't expect it. It's not fair," Naruto admitted to which the raven shrugged.

"That's life," was his unreasonable answer and Naruto frowned at it. "Now I have a question for you," Sasuke continued and the blond looked at him but didn't protest, "what's your story?" The question caused the blond to look away from Sasuke.

"That's a long story," the blond admitted slowly. It was also one he'd never told anyone, he was sensitive to the subject.

"Well I don't have anywhere to be," the raven said with an amused but encouraging smirk.

Naruto swallowed, unsure about saying anything, but after Sasuke opened up so much perhaps it was only fair, besides, it felt ok to tell the raven. "Well to cut it down a little I lived here when I was a kid, my life was pretty average, my dad owned a pet store in town to pay for the house and food, it was all simple." Naruto stopped briefly to take a deep breath, trying to suppress old wounds. "I left when my parents died." He said shortly, "and I travelled a lot until I finally came back here a few months ago." the blond looked up at his boss who stared at him blankly, but Naruto thought he could see sympathy in his eyes. Not like he wanted it, sympathy was outdated by now.

"I used to come here a lot," Naruto continued after a short silence, "with my parents, and after. They died in a car wreck when I was six, I made it out alive with just these scars," Naruto brushed his fingers over the whisker like marks on his cheeks, a sore and permanent reminder of that day. "I sat here and cried for three days straight before my godfather Jiraiya finally found me curled up in a ball fast asleep and took me home. He never did like to stay in one place for too long so we travelled from place to place until I finally decided to come home. At first I didn't want to leave my apartment, I couldn't bare to see anyone who I'd met before or who would recognise me, the thought of someone mentioning my parents to me was the worst thing I could think of happening. But it never happened, I guess everyone just forgot about it." Naruto finished and smiled weakly at Sasuke, it was a relief to finally be able to tell someone… though he felt guilty and confused that it wasn't Gaara, after all he was the blonde's boyfriend.

The two sat quietly for a while in comfortable silence, staring out over the town before Naruto finally yawned. "Hn," Sasuke scoffed and smirked at the blond as he rubbed his eyes. "I should take you home, looks like it's past your bedtime," Naruto blushed and pouted as Sasuke stood and offered a hand out to the blond who stared for a second before taking it and getting up off the ground, the blonde's hand tingled at the contact and he blushed, quickly letting go of Sasuke's hand though he could feel his heart squeeze unhappily at the loss. _'what was that?'_ He wondered as he stared down at his hand. "You ok dobe?" Sasuke smirked as Naruto's blush darkened and he walked towards the car ,"come on or I'm leaving you here," the raven said and Naruto walked quickly towards the passenger door, getting into the car before Sasuke started the engine in case the raven was being serious.

"So since Sakura's not your type," Naruto said as Sasuke stopped in front of the blonde's apartment building, "what is?" He'd been pondering this since they'd left the hill top, and if he was honest it was driving him mad not knowing. Naruto turned to look at the raven whose onyx eyes looked back, Sasuke saw the blonde's cerulean eyes sparkle with curiosity and his brows furrow since he'd been thinking too much and smirked.

Sasuke pressed one finger to his chin as if in thought and looked the blond up and down making Naruto blush. "Men" he answered bluntly and the blonde's eyes widened before he started to laugh hysterically. "What's so funny?" Sasuke questioned and Naruto took some deep breaths to try and calm himself down enough to answer.

"Wow Sasuke, you're a married man who liked guys," Naruto laughed again "talk about irony."

The raven shrugged nonchalantly. "I can leave Sakura whenever I want to," he smirked, "it's called divorce."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I want to make her suffer as much as I did," Sasuke answered and Naruto looked at him even more confused.

"But how? She loves you-"

"How?" the raven asked and scoffed, "because she's having an affair." Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "with her parent's most trusted servant, and if I don't divorce her she's stuck with someone she doesn't love and there's nothing she can do about it. It would be fine for her to be with him if they were married, but being so unfaithful her parents would probably cut her off. If it got out she was cheating the families reputation would be in danger."

Naruto hadn't recovered when Sasuke finished talking, he continued to stare at the raven in total shock as everything processed in his mind. "Wow," Naruto breathed out. "That's one fucked up love triangle, I feel like I've fallen into a soap opera," the raven chuckled making Naruto smile before his expression turned serious and worried again, "but surely you'll be happier without her."

Sasuke just shrugged as was his habit tonight. "I'll do it when I fall in love. _If_ I fall in love," the raven said and Naruto smiled softly.

"You will," the blond reassured him simply, "you just have to find the person who loves you most and you love just as much."

The raven scoffed, "yeah, well if you bump into someone who can love me for me, let me know," Sasuke said as Naruto opened the car door.

"Look yourself teme," the blond laughed, "they're probably right in front of you."

Sasuke's expression seemed to soften, making Naruto's heart skip a beat. "Maybe you're right," he said as he watched Naruto get out of the car.

"Thanks for everything Sasuke," the blond said as he peered back down into the car, "good night," he finally bid the raven and closed the door as Sasuke started the car engine, Naruto waving him off, and both men smiling as they left.

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**A/N: Two chapters to go unless I decide to add another one... unlikely though :/**

**Hope you enjoyed this one. ^^ **

**Review please.**

**Kit~  
**


	6. Sleep Deprived

I've almost finished chapter 7 so it's only right to post this. ^^;

Actually I forgot all about it. (Sorry!)

Anyway, here you go. Once the next one's done it'll be straight up, that's a promise.

**Disclaimer: I'm sticking with Kakashi after all. Now, how do you catch a ninja with Sharingan? -_-; this was never meant to be easy was it? Masashi Kishimoto owns all characters!**

* * *

"That was the shortest weekend ever," Naruto admitted with a dissatisfied sigh as he walked away from the conference room with Gaara on Monday morning.

"I agree, it should have lasted longer."

"No kidding," the blond agreed. Naruto felt like the weekend had barely happened at all, since he was with Gaara all of Saturday and was forced into helping Kiba move house on Sunday the blond usually arrived home exhausted and without any time to relax at all. "See you later Gaara," Naruto said as he walked down a separate corridor from the redhead.

"Bye Naruto," Gaara replied before Naruto turned around and walked towards his office. It was quiet when the blond sat down at his desk and turned on the computer, he had walked alone this morning while Sasuke had stayed to talk with Itachi, and as a result the blond kept unknowingly glancing up at the doors while he worked. He smiled brightly as the door to his office opened but it was quickly replaced with a frown as Neji entered the room instead.

"Morning Naruto," the brunet greeted the blond as he walked to his desk with a few letters in hand.

"Hey Neji," Naruto smiled, sounding a little less enthusiastic than he maybe shout have but thankfully the other didn't seem to notice.

"How was your weekend?" Neji asked and Naruto sighed.

"The shortest weekend of my life," he answered and leaned back in his chair as Neji laughed a little.

"That's a shame, Lee told me about you and Gaara," the brunet continued and Naruto blushed smiling at the other man but it wavered slightly.

"Yeah," was all the blond said before Neji said goodbye and left the room. Naruto sighed and stared at his computer screen, his mind wandering and his fingers poised but unmoving until he heard his office door open. The blonde jump a little in surprise as his head snapped up as making the blond crick his neck and Naruto winced with a curse as he brought his hand to the back of his neck and gave a small smile to Sasuke as the raven walked in who smirked at the blond before proceeding to his office.

********

"Could you come in here Naruto?" the raven asked through the intercom a while later and Naruto stood, stretching as he did so and walked to the raven's door to enter. Sasuke signalled for him to sit down so the blond did as asked and walked over to the desk, sitting across from his boss. "As you know I was talking to Itachi this morning," the blond nodded at the obvious information. "He said this week is very important for the company because of a new and quickly rising brand on the market and we have been asked to cover the advertising for it, so I need you to work overtime with me this week." the raven finished and Naruto grimaced.

"All of this week?" he asked and Sasuke nodded.

"Yes, all of the work will be done in here so I've been given a temporary assistant to deal with your usual work. I need you to get anything you need from your office and bring it in here, you'll be in here starting now for the rest of the week so if there are any plans you need to change," the raven smirked amusedly at Naruto's frown. "I suggest you sort them out immediately."

Naruto stood from the chair and sighed "fine, fine" he answered as he walked back to the office door. "But you're paying for the food!" the blond demanded before closing the door and walking towards the hall.

Naruto returned after telling the others that he wouldn't be joining them this week, he received a "if you earn more money than me from all this over time I'm robbing you," from Kiba and some colourful words about the blonde's boss from a very annoyed Gaara. Naruto finally walked through the doors and into his office to find a brunet boy in his late teen sitting in his chair, the boy smiled and walked towards Naruto.

"Hi, you must be Naruto," the boy greeted with a wide smile and extended his hand towards the blond.

"That's me," Naruto said and shook the other's hand feeling very confused.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Konohamaru; I'll be working in your place while you help Mr. Sasuke." realisation struck the blond and he smiled.

"Oh right, well good look Konohamaru, you might need it." Naruto laughed before walking into Sasuke's office.

******

Naruto yawned and stretched tiredly as he looked over at the wall clock on Friday night then looked at the desk again. Empty food cartons littered the table surface around the image he had been staring at for the last hour. _'If I could just find an idea for this we'd be done!'_ Naruto groaned and raked his fingers through his spiky hair.

"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked looking up from his computer screen and at the blond.

"This damn picture's giving me a headache," the blond complained with furrowed brows and a heavy frown, and he set his head against the back of the chair, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again and looking back across the table for his boss who wasn't there.

"What's wrong with it?" The raven asked and Naruto jumped as Sasuke appeared behind him, the raven leaning over his shoulder to look at the image, his breath brushing against Naruto's slightly exposed neck after taking off his tie over an hour ago.

Naruto swallowed dryly before looking back at the desk, a small blush appearing on his face and he tried his best to stay calm. "It just… makes no sense," he finally admitted and frowned at the image again.

Sasuke sighed before smirking "dobe," he muttered and leaned closer to both Naruto and the picture. "This is supposed to represent the reason for the product, an exaggerated example of how people feel when they use it," Sasuke stopped and turned his head to look at the blond beside him. "Understand?"

Naruto turned towards his boss and his breathing hitched as he swallowed thickly and nervously. Sasuke's onyx eyes peered into Naruto's own sapphire ones and the raven's breath made Naruto's skin tingle happily in the close proximity. They were so close. The blond nodded, "yes," he breathed out before he blinked.

At least… he thought he'd blinked, though the blond hadn't actually opened his eyes yet. _'I wonder why'_ he thought to himself, all Naruto knew was that his heart was racing and his stomach was flip flopping happily. _'Why is this happening?'_ he continued to wonder, and it took a second for Naruto's mind to collect itself, but his heartbeat didn't slow, nor did his stomach stop churning like a tumble dryer, and it took the blond another second to realise that there was something extremely warm, soft and gentle pressing against his lips. Naruto's eyes shot open then and he moved away from his boss quickly, blushing madly, "um-I-uh," Naruto stuttered but no words came to mind except _'I just kissed Sasuke!'_ his brain was screaming it at him like he'd just crashed into a lit up sign with the words flashing at him, but the blond wasn't sure if it was out of joy or horror that this was happening. "I'll let you know if I come up with an idea for the picture," Naruto rushed out before hurrying away from his boss and towards the door. The blond closed the door quickly behind him, his lips tingled as he recalled what had happened and he marched towards the elevator, a pair of coal black eyes following him accompanied by a Cheshire cat grin.

******

Sasuke reached his hand towards the blond, trying his best to say something, _anything_ to stop him leaving, but… he had already disappeared through the door. "Damn it!" the raven cursed and took two of his pills in his anger. He hadn't meant for that to happen, Sasuke would admit that he didn't regret it but he didn't expect the blond to just run away like that. _'then what did you expect?'_ he asked himself and sighed, Sasuke wasn't actually sure what had happened or why, Naruto had moved into the kiss too, had kissed the raven back, so why did he run off? Sasuke stared out of the window, he had thought too much of their relationship, he had become closer to Naruto over the past week, they had talked a lot, much more than Sasuke had ever talked to another person and he felt comfortable around Naruto. But apparently acting on impulse doesn't work for the blond and so unfolded the current situation. And Sasuke finally realised that he'd messed up big time. Now that was something he regretted.

The raven walked into the kitchen of his brother's large home early the next day still thoroughly annoyed with himself. "Good morning," Itachi chimed and the younger Uchiha sat down at the island and stared at his brother, flipping pancakes in a frilly apron with a concerned expression –Well, at least it wasn't pink-. "Is everything finished?" the older raven asked his brother.

"Everything was completed last night," Sasuke answered as he placed his arms on the table and rested his head on top. He had never been a good sleeper, but yesterday he'd had simply no sleep whatsoever which was putting him in a fouler mood than usual, and he questioned why he went to Itachi's in the first place. His older brother was known to wind him to the point of snapping and today, Sasuke's fuse was short.

"Good," Itachi said and smiled slyly. "I came to your office ask last night but… perhaps it was at the wrong time," the older raven's smirk grew as he saw confusion then realisation cross his younger brother's face.

"You didn't-"

"Oh, I did," Itachi nodded and Sasuke put his head in his arms once again, now he wanted to disappear completely. "I must say I'm impressed brother, I didn't think you'd take the initiative." The younger raven grunted, he couldn't believe Itachi had seen that, he was never going to hear the end of it.

"Don't get too excited it won't be happening again," Sasuke replied and recalled the rest of the night to his brother, he had returned home to find an e-mail from the blond asking him not to tell anyone about what had happened, Sasuke had rolled his eyes at it, as much as he'd love to tell Gaara about the kiss, he wouldn't, it would just end up making the blond push the raven further away and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

"Don't worry little brother, I'm sure Naruto will come round soon enough," Itachi said encouragingly as he handed his brother a plate of pancakes and sat down at the island with him.

******

"Good morning," Naruto heard his boyfriend greet from the other end of the phone. Naruto winced at the voice as a flash of the night before invaded his mind. He wouldn't tell Gaara, he didn't want to hurt the redhead, and it's not like anything like that was going to happen again, the blond felt his stomach churn in displeasure with that remark and he cursed it for doing such a thing.

"Hey Gaara," Naruto said and yawned, his eyes were bloodshot from being rubbed so much and Naruto was basically exhausted. Gaara seemed to notice this from the blonde's husky and cracked voice.

"Is everything alright?" the redhead asked worriedly and Naruto cleared his throat to try and rid the husky tone though it did him no good.

"Yeah, I'm just tired from working so much last week," the blond admitted with a yawn.

"I understand," Gaara said. "So are you ok to come out with me today?" he asked and Naruto grimaced, seeing the redhead would just make him feel worse than he already did.

"Actually I really need some 'R and R' so I'm going to sleep all day, I hope you don't mind," Naruto said, some guilt in his words but honestly he needed to sleep for about a week straight to feel any better.

"That's ok Naruto, I understand, I'll see you around," the redhead answered and Naruto was glad Gaara wasn't going to push the blond into going out or offering to go to the blonde's house.

"Bye Gaara," Naruto said before hanging up the phone.

He walked back into his bedroom and resumed his staring contest with the ceiling. Naruto had realised during the night just how exhausted he really was when he was sure the ceiling had blinked. The blond had had no sleep last night, he was so damn confused he only succeeded in giving himself one hell of a headache. He had e-mailed his boss about not telling anyone and was relieved when Sasuke said that he wouldn't but it didn't help calm him down. Naruto still didn't understand what the hell had happened, and finally gave up on everything as he felt the warm morning sun on his face, and now he was stuck being irritated, confused and tired.

Naruto grunted in frustration and touched his lips, he let the memory intrude onto the forefront of his mind and again his stomach danced which just managed to piss the blond off even more _'he's my boss for crying out loud!'_ he thought in frustration and sighed.

Things really couldn't get any worse.

* * *

**A/N: If it's any better the next chapter is _a lot_ longer... I surprise myself sometimes.**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. ^^;**

**Next and final chapter coming very soon.**

**Please review!**

**Kit.~  
**

* * *

"That was the shortest weekend ever," Naruto admitted with a dissatisfied sigh as he walked away from the conference room with Gaara on Monday morning.

"I agree, it should have lasted longer."

"No kidding," the blond agreed. Naruto felt like the weekend had barely happened at all, since he was with Gaara all of Saturday and was forced into helping Kiba move house on Sunday the blond usually arrived home exhausted and without any time to relax at all. "See you later Gaara," Naruto said as he walked down a separate corridor from the redhead.

"Bye Naruto," Gaara replied before Naruto turned around and walked towards his office. It was quiet when the blond sat down at his desk and turned on the computer, he had walked alone this morning while Sasuke had stayed to talk with Itachi, and as a result the blond kept unknowingly glancing up at the doors while he worked. He smiled brightly as the door to his office opened but it was quickly replaced with a frown as Neji entered the room instead.

"Morning Naruto," the brunet greeted the blond as he walked to his desk with a few letters in hand.

"Hey Neji," Naruto smiled, sounding a little less enthusiastic than he maybe shout have but thankfully the other didn't seem to notice.

"How was your weekend?" Neji asked and Naruto sighed.

"The shortest weekend of my life," he answered and leaned back in his chair as Neji laughed a little.

"That's a shame, Lee told me about you and Gaara," the brunet continued and Naruto blushed smiling at the other man but it wavered slightly.

"Yeah," was all the blond said before Neji said goodbye and left the room. Naruto sighed and stared at his computer screen, his mind wandering and his fingers poised but unmoving until he heard his office door open. The blonde jump a little in surprise as his head snapped up as making the blond crick his neck and Naruto winced with a curse as he brought his hand to the back of his neck and gave a small smile to Sasuke as the raven walked in who smirked at the blond before proceeding to his office.

********

"Could you come in here Naruto?" the raven asked through the intercom a while later and Naruto stood, stretching as he did so and walked to the raven's door to enter. Sasuke signalled for him to sit down so the blond did as asked and walked over to the desk, sitting across from his boss. "As you know I was talking to Itachi this morning," the blond nodded at the obvious information. "He said this week is very important for the company because of a new and quickly rising brand on the market and we have been asked to cover the advertising for it, so I need you to work overtime with me this week." the raven finished and Naruto grimaced.

"All of this week?" he asked and Sasuke nodded.

"Yes, all of the work will be done in here so I've been given a temporary assistant to deal with your usual work. I need you to get anything you need from your office and bring it in here, you'll be in here starting now for the rest of the week so if there are any plans you need to change," the raven smirked amusedly at Naruto's frown. "I suggest you sort them out immediately."

Naruto stood from the chair and sighed "fine, fine" he answered as he walked back to the office door. "But you're paying for the food!" the blond demanded before closing the door and walking towards the hall.

Naruto returned after telling the others that he wouldn't be joining them this week, he received a "if you earn more money than me from all this over time I'm robbing you," from Kiba and some colourful words about the blonde's boss from a very annoyed Gaara. Naruto finally walked through the doors and into his office to find a brunet boy in his late teen sitting in his chair, the boy smiled and walked towards Naruto.

"Hi, you must be Naruto," the boy greeted with a wide smile and extended his hand towards the blond.

"That's me," Naruto said and shook the other's hand feeling very confused.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Konohamaru; I'll be working in your place while you help Mr. Sasuke." realisation struck the blond and he smiled.

"Oh right, well good look Konohamaru, you might need it." Naruto laughed before walking into Sasuke's office.

******

Naruto yawned and stretched tiredly as he looked over at the wall clock on Friday night then looked at the desk again. Empty food cartons littered the table surface around the image he had been staring at for the last hour. _'If I could just find an idea for this we'd be done!'_ Naruto groaned and raked his fingers through his spiky hair.

"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked looking up from his computer screen and at the blond.

"This damn picture's giving me a headache," the blond complained with furrowed brows and a heavy frown, and he set his head against the back of the chair, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again and looking back across the table for his boss who wasn't there.

"What's wrong with it?" The raven asked and Naruto jumped as Sasuke appeared behind him, the raven leaning over his shoulder to look at the image, his breath brushing against Naruto's slightly exposed neck after taking off his tie over an hour ago.

Naruto swallowed dryly before looking back at the desk, a small blush appearing on his face and he tried his best to stay calm. "It just… makes no sense," he finally admitted and frowned at the image again.

Sasuke sighed before smirking "dobe," he muttered and leaned closer to both Naruto and the picture. "This is supposed to represent the reason for the product, an exaggerated example of how people feel when they use it," Sasuke stopped and turned his head to look at the blond beside him. "Understand?"

Naruto turned towards his boss and his breathing hitched as he swallowed thickly and nervously. Sasuke's onyx eyes peered into Naruto's own sapphire ones and the raven's breath made Naruto's skin tingle happily in the close proximity. They were so close. The blond nodded, "yes," he breathed out before he blinked.

At least… he thought he'd blinked, though the blond hadn't actually opened his eyes yet. _'I wonder why'_ he thought to himself, all Naruto knew was that his heart was racing and his stomach was flip flopping happily. _'Why is this happening?'_ he continued to wonder, and it took a second for Naruto's mind to collect itself, but his heartbeat didn't slow, nor did his stomach stop churning like a tumble dryer, and it took the blond another second to realise that there was something extremely warm, soft and gentle pressing against his lips. Naruto's eyes shot open then and he moved away from his boss quickly, blushing madly, "um-I-uh," Naruto stuttered but no words came to mind except _'I just kissed Sasuke!'_ his brain was screaming it at him like he'd just crashed into a lit up sign with the words flashing at him, but the blond wasn't sure if it was out of joy or horror that this was happening. "I'll let you know if I come up with an idea for the picture," Naruto rushed out before hurrying away from his boss and towards the door. The blond closed the door quickly behind him, his lips tingled as he recalled what had happened and he marched towards the elevator, a pair of coal black eyes following him accompanied by a Cheshire cat grin.

******

Sasuke reached his hand towards the blond, trying his best to say something, _anything_ to stop him leaving, but… he had already disappeared through the door. "Damn it!" the raven cursed and took two of his pills in his anger. He hadn't meant for that to happen, Sasuke would admit that he didn't regret it but he didn't expect the blond to just run away like that. _'then what did you expect?'_ he asked himself and sighed, Sasuke wasn't actually sure what had happened or why, Naruto had moved into the kiss too, had kissed the raven back, so why did he run off? Sasuke stared out of the window, he had thought too much of their relationship, he had become closer to Naruto over the past week, they had talked a lot, much more than Sasuke had ever talked to another person and he felt comfortable around Naruto. But apparently acting on impulse doesn't work for the blond and so unfolded the current situation. And Sasuke finally realised that he'd messed up big time. Now that was something he regretted.

The raven walked into the kitchen of his brother's large home early the next day still thoroughly annoyed with himself. "Good morning," Itachi chimed and the younger Uchiha sat down at the island and stared at his brother, flipping pancakes in a frilly apron with a concerned expression –Well, at least it wasn't pink-. "Is everything finished?" the older raven asked his brother.

"Everything was completed last night," Sasuke answered as he placed his arms on the table and rested his head on top. He had never been a good sleeper, but yesterday he'd had simply no sleep whatsoever which was putting him in a fouler mood than usual, and he questioned why he went to Itachi's in the first place. His older brother was known to wind him to the point of snapping and today, Sasuke's fuse was short.

"Good," Itachi said and smiled slyly. "I came to your office ask last night but… perhaps it was at the wrong time," the older raven's smirk grew as he saw confusion then realisation cross his younger brother's face.

"You didn't-"

"Oh, I did," Itachi nodded and Sasuke put his head in his arms once again, now he wanted to disappear completely. "I must say I'm impressed brother, I didn't think you'd take the initiative." The younger raven grunted, he couldn't believe Itachi had seen that, he was never going to hear the end of it.

"Don't get too excited it won't be happening again," Sasuke replied and recalled the rest of the night to his brother, he had returned home to find an e-mail from the blond asking him not to tell anyone about what had happened, Sasuke had rolled his eyes at it, as much as he'd love to tell Gaara about the kiss, he wouldn't, it would just end up making the blond push the raven further away and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

"Don't worry little brother, I'm sure Naruto will come round soon enough," Itachi said encouragingly as he handed his brother a plate of pancakes and sat down at the island with him.

******

"Good morning," Naruto heard his boyfriend greet from the other end of the phone. Naruto winced at the voice as a flash of the night before invaded his mind. He wouldn't tell Gaara, he didn't want to hurt the redhead, and it's not like anything like that was going to happen again, the blond felt his stomach churn in displeasure with that remark and he cursed it for doing such a thing.

"Hey Gaara," Naruto said and yawned, his eyes were bloodshot from being rubbed so much and Naruto was basically exhausted. Gaara seemed to notice this from the blonde's husky and cracked voice.

"Is everything alright?" the redhead asked worriedly and Naruto cleared his throat to try and rid the husky tone though it did him no good.

"Yeah, I'm just tired from working so much last week," the blond admitted with a yawn.

"I understand," Gaara said. "So are you ok to come out with me today?" he asked and Naruto grimaced, seeing the redhead would just make him feel worse than he already did.

"Actually I really need some 'R and R' so I'm going to sleep all day, I hope you don't mind," Naruto said, some guilt in his words but honestly he needed to sleep for about a week straight to feel any better.

"That's ok Naruto, I understand, I'll see you around," the redhead answered and Naruto was glad Gaara wasn't going to push the blond into going out or offering to go to the blonde's house.

"Bye Gaara," Naruto said before hanging up the phone.

He walked back into his bedroom and resumed his staring contest with the ceiling. Naruto had realised during the night just how exhausted he really was when he was sure the ceiling had blinked. The blond had had no sleep last night, he was so damn confused he only succeeded in giving himself one hell of a headache. He had e-mailed his boss about not telling anyone and was relieved when Sasuke said that he wouldn't but it didn't help calm him down. Naruto still didn't understand what the hell had happened, and finally gave up on everything as he felt the warm morning sun on his face, and now he was stuck being irritated, confused and tired.

Naruto grunted in frustration and touched his lips, he let the memory intrude onto the forefront of his mind and again his stomach danced which just managed to piss the blond off even more _'he's my boss for crying out loud!'_ he thought in frustration and sighed.

Things really couldn't get any worse. 


End file.
